


For the Greater Good

by watcherofworlds



Series: Whumptober 2020 [10]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, Kidnapping, Post Crisis Timeline, Prompt Fill, Ransom, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26936704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: Prompt fill for Whumptober Day 9 "For the Greater Good"
Series: Whumptober 2020 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956160
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	For the Greater Good

“What do you want with my sister?” William demanded, stepping forward to confront the men who had surrounded them out of nowhere while they’d been visiting their father’s statue and whose leader was currently holding Mia captive, grasping her arm so tightly that she could not escape no matter how hard she fought him, and fight him she did.

“Nothing lethal, don’t worry,” he said. “That is, unless you do something stupid like try to stop us or mount a rescue.” The look he gave William at that moment suggested that he was one of the many people who believed that he was the new Green Arrow, a notion which he found ridiculous. Anyone with eyes could see that Mia was the fighter, not him.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said coolly, adopting the mannerisms he used when dealing with a particularly difficult client at work. It was a paltry intimidation tactic in any other setting, he knew, but it was the only one he had.

“Your family is incredibly wealthy, as I’m sure you’re aware,” the leader of the group said. “I’m certain your mother and grandmother would pay handsomely to get their darling girl back.” William felt his heart sink. Holding Mia for ransom wasn’t the most original of ideas, but he supposed that the city’s newly resurging criminal element had to come up with  _ something _ when they were essentially starting over from scratch. Still, he knew what he had to do.

“Take me instead,” he told the leader of the group. “They’d pay you just as much for me as they would for her.”

“William, no!” Mia pleaded, struggling in vain against her captor once more, but William ignored her. It didn’t matter that Mia was the one with the fighting skill- she was still his baby sister. She always would be, no matter how old they got, and thus it was and always would be his job, his  _ responsibility _ , to protect her.

“How  _ noble _ of you to offer to give yourself up for her,” the leader of the group said with more than a hint of scorn in his voice, yanking Mia back to his side as one might a misbehaving puppy.

“Do you want the deal or not?” William asked, just snappishly enough to be confrontational without provoking Mia’s captor further. He felt something come over him then, an eerie, icy calm, and he knew in that moment that if he’d been a fighter like Mia was, like his father had been, he would have charged into battle against these men and torn them limb from limb in order to save his sister. As it was, though, he knew that his only option was to hope that they took the deal and then, once Mia was safely away from the danger, use the skills and knowledge he did have to get himself out of it as well.

“Alright,” the leader of the group finally said, pulling William away from his introspections. “As you so astutely pointed out, I have nothing to lose from the exchange.” Pointing to two of his cronies, he commanded, “Take him. Leave the girl.” and as they moved quickly to do just that, William began to pray that he hadn’t just made a life ending error in judgement.


End file.
